Jewel
upgraded in time for this mission on Denon.”
Ackbar jumped into the discussion. “What are the names of this planet and moon, if I may ask?”
“The planet is called Sha Qarot and it orbits a red sun. The moon is a strange purple place called Fex.”
“Does the Empire know about Sha Qarot and Fex?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure who discovered it, how long ago, or who they sold the information to besides my father. My father’s under the impression that its existence is not widely known.”
“Are there any sentient species?”
“Not that I know of. I don’t think anyone has set foot on the planet yet; it has a poisonous atmosphere and heavy volcanic activity. We just have holos and scans from orbit. But Fex is very interesting, even though we haven’t found sentient life yet.”
“If searching for this lost collection crew will earn you the credits to upgrade your ship, I think you should do it,” Ackbar said. “But it might also serve another purpose—a more important one as far as I’m concerned. It’s possible that the moon might make an ideal base for the Alliance, so I want you to scout it with that in mind. Keep an eye out for the Imperial fleet and put down beacons for future reference if you find any satisfactory sites—but don’t lose track of time. Extracting that cryptologist from Denon is your main priority.”
NAKARI ASKED ME when I wanted to leave and nodded when I said as soon as possible. There is very little excitement on a Nebulon-B frigate like the
Patience
, breathing recycled air and drinking recycled water, and the chance to check out a funky purple moon sounded like a good time to me. I still remember my years of deadly boredom on Tatooine, when every sunset signaled another lost opportunity to experience something besides sand dunes and moisture vaporators, so a chance to evacuate a sterile environment galvanized me to action like nothing else. Almost becoming snack food for a ghest was vastly preferable to twiddling my thumbs on the hangar deck.
Nakari evidently felt the same and said immediate departure was fine with her.
“Let me get cleaned up and packed, maybe grab a bite, and I’ll meet you at the ship in a couple of hours?”
“You sure that’s enough time?” Nakari asked.
“It’s more than I need. That’s taking it easy.”
She smirked and tucked a curled string of hair behind her ear. “All right. See you then.”
I bade farewell to Leia and Admiral Ackbar and brushed past the droids on my way out. My exit triggered the abrupt departure of R2-D2 just as C-3PO was complaining at length about a microsecond lag in his lateral relays. “Wait! Where are you going?” he called. Artoo’s response didn’t please him. “But you just got here and I’m not finished catching up yet!” The door closed on any further complaints and Artoo chirped a question at me.
“We’ll be flying out on the
Desert Jewel
again soon. I hope you liked her. We’re going to be depending on you two to get us in and out of the Deep Core safely.” I didn’t understand his reply, but since the digital beeps sounded generally positive I didn’t worry.
“Luke? Wait up,” Leia called from behind. Surprised, I stopped and turned, telling Artoo to go ahead to my quarters. Once she saw that I was waiting, Leia didn’t hurry, and when she reached me, she didn’t speak right away. Instead she glared at me and paced back and forth, hands on hips. I checked the hallway behind me to make sure she wasn’t angry with someone else, but no, it was just the two of us, which meant she was mad at me.
“What?” I asked. “What did I do?”
“It’s what you’re
doing
.”
“What am I doing?”
“You’re taking a poorly mapped hyperspace route to a planet where people have gone missing because she’s pretty.”
“No, that’s not it—” The flash in Leia’s eyes made me stop and backtrack. “Well, yeah, she
is
pretty, but that’s not why I’m going. I’m going because
upgraded in time for this mission on Denon.”
Ackbar jumped into the discussion. “What are the names of this planet and moon, if I may ask?”
“The planet is called Sha Qarot and it orbits a red sun. The moon is a strange purple place called Fex.”
“Does the Empire know about Sha Qarot and Fex?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure who discovered it, how long ago, or who they sold the information to besides my father. My father’s under the impression that its existence is not widely known.”
“Are there any sentient species?”
“Not that I know of. I don’t think anyone has set foot on the planet yet; it has a poisonous atmosphere and heavy volcanic activity. We just have holos and scans from orbit. But Fex is very interesting, even though we haven’t found sentient life yet.”
“If searching for this lost collection crew will earn you the credits to upgrade your ship, I think you should do it,” Ackbar said. “But it might also serve another purpose—a more important one as far as I’m concerned. It’s possible that the moon might make an ideal base for the Alliance, so I want you to scout it with that in mind. Keep an eye out for the Imperial fleet and put down beacons for future reference if you find any satisfactory sites—but don’t lose track of time. Extracting that cryptologist from Denon is your main priority.”
NAKARI ASKED ME when I wanted to leave and nodded when I said as soon as possible. There is very little excitement on a Nebulon-B frigate like the
Patience
, breathing recycled air and drinking recycled water, and the chance to check out a funky purple moon sounded like a good time to me. I still remember my years of deadly boredom on Tatooine, when every sunset signaled another lost opportunity to experience something besides sand dunes and moisture vaporators, so a chance to evacuate a sterile environment galvanized me to action like nothing else. Almost becoming snack food for a ghest was vastly preferable to twiddling my thumbs on the hangar deck.
Nakari evidently felt the same and said immediate departure was fine with her.
“Let me get cleaned up and packed, maybe grab a bite, and I’ll meet you at the ship in a couple of hours?”
“You sure that’s enough time?” Nakari asked.
“It’s more than I need. That’s taking it easy.”
She smirked and tucked a curled string of hair behind her ear. “All right. See you then.”
I bade farewell to Leia and Admiral Ackbar and brushed past the droids on my way out. My exit triggered the abrupt departure of R2-D2 just as C-3PO was complaining at length about a microsecond lag in his lateral relays. “Wait! Where are you going?” he called. Artoo’s response didn’t please him. “But you just got here and I’m not finished catching up yet!” The door closed on any further complaints and Artoo chirped a question at me.
“We’ll be flying out on the
Desert Jewel
again soon. I hope you liked her. We’re going to be depending on you two to get us in and out of the Deep Core safely.” I didn’t understand his reply, but since the digital beeps sounded generally positive I didn’t worry.
“Luke? Wait up,” Leia called from behind. Surprised, I stopped and turned, telling Artoo to go ahead to my quarters. Once she saw that I was waiting, Leia didn’t hurry, and when she reached me, she didn’t speak right away. Instead she glared at me and paced back and forth, hands on hips. I checked the hallway behind me to make sure she wasn’t angry with someone else, but no, it was just the two of us, which meant she was mad at me.
“What?” I asked. “What did I do?”
“It’s what you’re
doing
.”
“What am I doing?”
“You’re taking a poorly mapped hyperspace route to a planet where people have gone missing because she’s pretty.”
“No, that’s not it—” The flash in Leia’s eyes made me stop and backtrack. “Well, yeah, she
is
pretty, but that’s not why I’m going. I’m going because
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